Find out how popular the last name Kurland is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Kurland.

Kurland, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Kurland surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kurland in America

Kurland is the 16502nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kurland surname appeared 1,741 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Kurland.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kurland to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Kurland

The surname Kurland is of German origin and can be traced back to the 16th century. It is derived from the Low German words "kur" meaning "to choose" and "land" referring to a piece of land or territory. The name likely originated from an area known as Kurland or Courland, which was a semi-independent duchy within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the 16th to the 18th century.

Some of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Kurland can be found in historical documents from the Duchy of Courland, such as land records and census data from the 1600s. The name was often spelled as "Kuhrland" or "Kuhrlandt" during this period, reflecting the regional pronunciation and orthography.

One notable person with the surname Kurland was Johann Reinhold von Kurland, a German nobleman who lived from 1589 to 1642. He served as the Duke of Courland and Semigallia, and played a significant role in the political and economic development of the region.

Another historical figure bearing the name was Wilhelm von Kurland, a Prussian military officer who lived from 1788 to 1861. He fought in the Napoleonic Wars and later served as the Governor of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) from 1846 to 1849.

In the 18th century, the name Kurland appeared in the records of several German-speaking communities in what is now modern-day Poland and Lithuania. For instance, there are references to a family named Kurland residing in the town of Tilsit (now Sovetsk, Russia) during the late 1700s.

As the Duchy of Courland was eventually absorbed into the Russian Empire in the early 19th century, many individuals with the surname Kurland migrated to other parts of Europe and North America. One such example is Friedrich Wilhelm Kurland, a German-American author and poet who was born in 1810 and later settled in the United States.

Additionally, there are records of a Johann Kurland, a German musician and composer who lived from 1819 to 1891. He was known for his contributions to the development of military bands and marches in Prussia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kurland

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Kurland.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Kurland was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Kurland has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Kurland was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Kurland, please contact us.

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